Modern day hand-held consumer devices, such as tablet computing devices and mobile devices (e.g., cellular telephones) have become thinner and thinner over the years. For example, consider the changes in the structure of a mobile phone. The best-selling mobile phone in the year 2000—the NOKIA 3310—had a thickness of about 22 mm. However, the best-selling mobile phone in 2013—the APPLE IPHONE 5S—was just 7.6 mm thick. The difference in thickness of the two devices is indeed remarkable.
Although such thin devices are generally desirable, they are also notoriously frustrating for a user to pick up from an underlying surface, such as that of a table or a charging mat, for example. Adding to this difficulty is the design of modern hand-held devices. Often, most hand-held devices are designed to have curved edges and are manufactured from smooth materials. However, while such features make these devices aesthetically pleasing, they also add to the user's frustration. Of course, increasing the thickness of such devices may help, but given consumers' current preferences towards smaller form factors for their hand-held devices, one can safely assume that the trend towards thinner devices is likely to continue.